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Interactive
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Texas Ranch House

For Students 3rd - 8th
What was it like to be a cowboy in 1867? Visit the Cooke Ranch and explore a cowboy's working and dwelling quarters. Play the interactive games to learn about the many aspects of daily life in the American West. (Click "Interactive...
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Lesson Plan
Other

Bringing History Home: Communities Long Ago

For Teachers K - 1st
This Grade 1 unit explores U.S. communities in a historical context. By exploring their own community's buildings and services of both long ago and today, children in non-Native American communities are introduced to concepts of change,...
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Website
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies: Tribes in Nebraska Give Up Lands in Treaties

For Students 9th - 10th
Review this discourse of the many treaties enacted between the settlers and Native Americans during the development of the Great Plains, the problems that arose, and the creation of reservations.
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Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The Homestead Act and the Exodusters

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what the Homestead Act of 1862 was and what it meant for settlers, as well as the Exodus of 1879 when many African Americans became exodusters and left the South. Includes questions for students at end.
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eBook
Other

Hillcrest High School: Us History: Expansion in Texas [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This chapter covers a time in Texas history during the mid-nineteenth century when Mexico offered land grants to American settlers, but conflict developed over religion and other cultural differences.
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Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Oregon Trail

For Students 9th - 10th
The Oregon Trail was the important route taken by settlers from the east migrating to build a new life in the western part of the United States covering over 2000 miles.
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Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides an overview and detailed facts about the Kansas-Nebraska Act that allowed settlers in the new territories to decide whether to have slavery.
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Website
Other

History of German American Relations: 1683 1900: History and Immigration

For Students 9th - 10th
From the U.S. State Department, a comprehensive reference tool about the history of Germans in America starting in 1683 up until the present. Provides background, exhibits, digital images, statistics, teacher resources, internet links,...
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Encountering the American West: Ohio River Valley 1750 1820

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a PDF of the information from LOC of the exhibition of America's move to its first West, that of the Ohio River Valley. Discussion includes these topics: Contested Lands, Peoples and Migrations, Empires and Politics, Western Life...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Utopian Promise: William Bradford

For Students 9th - 10th
Seventeenth century author, William Bradford, set sail on the Mayflower and embarked on a journey to the New World using his experiences for his writings. Click on "William Bradford Activities" for related artifacts and activities.
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Website
Other

Live Science: First American Settlers Not Who We Thought

For Students 9th - 10th
This article discusses findings that point to a pre-Clovis, New-World-humans model through artifacts dug up at various archaeological spots thoughout the Americas.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: What Did People Wear?

For Teachers K
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about the clothes worn by early Americans. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Early Settlers in Virginia

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Early Settlers in Virginia
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Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Land Departments and Immigration

For Students 9th - 10th
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes what the Land Department and the Bureau of Immigration did in order to attract new immigrants to settle along the railroad line. The...
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Website
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The First Dutch Settlers

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the Dutch colonization of the Hudson River Valley in this comprehensive essay about the Dutch in America. Pages 3-7 deal with the Dutch colonies.
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: What Should a House Do

For Teachers K - 1st
Site provides an extensive lesson plan that challenges learners to compare early American houses to present day houses. Very comprehensive site with several activities that will assist students in understanding common features of houses....
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Handout
CommonLit

Common Lit: Text Sets: Westward Expansion

For Students 9th - 10th
Throughout the 1800s, Americans pushed ever westward in the search of prosperity and the American dream. It was a time of growth and adventure for settlers, and loss for most American Indians. This collection includes 7 Grade-Leveled...
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Website
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies: The Conversion Struggle

For Students 9th - 10th
The story of the problems on converting native Americans to a Christian religion. It uses the example of Christian missionaries who were trying to convert the Pawnee tribe in the 1830s.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: The Old Stone House

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Intended to support elementary students' reading comprehension, historical information is provided. The significance of "The Old Stone House" during the Battle of Brooklyn in the American Revolution is...
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Handout
Ancestry

Rootsweb: The Creek War

For Students 9th - 10th
Following the Revolutionary War, more and more settlers began to migrate into what was the territory of the Indians. By the early 19th century, there was open hostilty between whites and Indians. Farmers wanted more land and the Indians...
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Activity
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Pocahontas

For Students 3rd - 5th
Learn more about Pocahontas through the accounts of her adventures. This information explains the relationship between Pocahontas and the English settlers.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: French Native American Relations in the Great Lakes Region

For Teachers 7th - 9th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This historical passage discusses the relations between the French and Native Americans in the Great Lakes Regions during the 1700's and 1800's. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that...
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Graphic
Curated OER

Early Settlers

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Early Settlers farming
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Primary
University of Groningen

American History: Documents: Bacon's Declaration

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides the full text of Bacon's Declaration of the People, submitted to Sir William Berkeley, July 30, 1676. This declaration states the settlers' anger towards taxes and Indian attacks.

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